


Somewhere Permanent

by SaraJaye



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Betrayal, Canon Backstory, Drama, Homelessness, Loyalty, M/M, Minor Violence, Pre-Game(s), Pre-Slash, Thievery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-02
Updated: 2015-12-02
Packaged: 2018-05-04 12:13:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5333708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You spared my life, you gave me a place to live...that is why, Prince Leo."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Somewhere Permanent

**Author's Note:**

> _Any, any, The day that changed their life forever._

He can't remember ever having a concept of "home". He barely remembers his mother, just that his dad ran out on her and left her with a kid, whom she eventually dumped on a doorstep. The people who lived there gave him some bread and sent him on his way. _We've got too many children as it is, we can't take another._

He spent most of his time alone, sneaking through the alleys learning to steal. Someone jumped him when he was six, cost him his eye. A priest took him in, knocked him out and he woke up half-blind.. _I wouldn't go to the orphanage if I were you. Nice families, they'd be afraid of a kid with a patch._

He's drifted from one place to another, mostly sleeping in the alleys. He found a dropped knife on the ground and kept it, he's pretty good with it now. Better at outrunning people, too. He steals from merchants, whatever he can stuff under his cloak. It's not the best life a kid can ask for, but it's his.

He's eleven when he falls in with the gang. The leader sees the patch and the knife, challenges him to a fight. He wins, he's in, and they pull their first successful heist the next night.

For the next eight years they rob manse after manse, and Zero develops a lust for the suffering he knows he's causing those rich bastards.

He develops a taste for killing. The leader teaches him to use a bow, and he snipes any guards or sentries standing in the way of their goals.

He starts to think of these people as his family. They're not that close, but they've got a common goal in mind and they get along okay most of the time. He's grateful enough for the company.

One night, they decide to go for the big score. Nohr's palace, the mother of all heists, and they figure it'll be easy enough. By now Zero's grown cocky, he thinks once they've pulled this off they can retire and live like kings.

"Guards!"

He doesn't know where they fucked up, but they did. Suddenly the people he'd come to think of as family are shoving him aside, into the path of the guards as they make a break for it.

He doesn't even feel himself break. _Eight years._ It was as close as he'd ever come to trusting anyone and they throw him under the carriage wheels. They've left with their loot and Zero's sitting there, the decoy, the bait.

They'd never intended to keep him, he realizes. The leader, he'd trained him in the bow but never as intensely as the others. They'd treated him like a little brother, not a full-fledged member.

His _family._

A boy (or a man, he's not sure in this light with one working eye, blurred with tears) fires a blast of magic at him. Zero doesn't even try to dodge.

_This is it. Well, I can't say I'll be sad to go, it's not like I'm leaving anyone behind._ It burns, he winces in pain, prepares himself for the killing blow.

"Huh."

The person puts his tome down and approaches. Tall, blond, slender... _Prince Leo._ He's heard the name before, usually from the lips of starry-eyed girls and some male admirers, a handsome yet beautiful man with near-unrivaled skill in dark magic. His heart races, presumably from fear.

"You didn't beg me for your life," the prince says, sizing him up. "Why?"

"No sense in begging for a life that's not there." Prince Leo is silent for a moment, then offers a hand.

"You're interesting," he says. "I'd like to take you on."

"Don't play games with me, prince." He's not in the mood to laugh or be fucked with any further than he's been tonight. But Leo keeps his hand there, and there seems to be a smile on his face.

"It's no game," he says. "Be my sworn man, and you'll have somewhere to stay. You look like you haven't slept indoors for a while." And Zero's sure he's passed out from the pain and this is some fantasy. But right now, fantasy's better than nothing.

He takes the offered hand, stands and tries to compose himself.

"My name's Zero."

"Zero." Prince Leo smiles. "I look forward to working with you."

He sleeps in a real bed for the first time that night, warm and soft with thick quilts. And when he wakes up, he's still covered in those thick quilts. He touches a recent wound on his ankle, and when it stings, he knows it's been no dream.

"Good morning, Zero."

The face from last night greets him, and Zero feels a little warm inside. This is the face of his savior, the face of the one person who's ever shown real kindness to him.

"What shall I do for you this morning, Prince Leo?"

The man he'll forever owe his life to.

Looking back, he realizes it was the first time he ever knew what love was.


End file.
